I don't think it's much of a stretch to say most Big Ten fans have adopted a similar attitude towards the conference's great white whale. The Irish are like a hot girl who dumps you after three dates. You have a lot in common, and think she could be the one. So you stand outside her door for a minute after she shows you out, just in case she opens it back up. And you call a couple of times that week, praying she'll change her mind.

But after she says no a certain number of times, your pride takes over, and you resign yourself to never thinking or talking about her again. You tell yourself she wasn't really that great. You focus on her flaws. You convince yourself that you didn't lose anything at all. But deep down inside...